B: Ohhhhhh. Like, the new, first-time-ever-on-vinyl double LP expanded edition release of Califone’s Sometimes Good Weather Follows Bad People, which was composed of the band’s first two EPs plus a few new songs and originally released on CD by the Glitterhouse label in 2000, and that’s available on November 6 (pre-order now) in an expanded edition on double vinyl format replete with “deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket with all new artwork” (including the original album tracks and four previously unreleased outtakes from the final Red Red Meat recording sessions) thanks to the Jealous Butcher label???

A: Umm. Yes? Was that a question? I… I forgot what we were even talking about.

B: Yeah, no, you were talking about how the Califone double LP comes with a free digital download and how the first 300 pre-orders come on super-limited-edition translucent light blue vinyl.

A: I was? What the fuck is a califone?

Side A
01. On the Steeple With the Shakes (X-mas Tigers)
02. Silvermine Pictures
03. Pastry Sharp
04. To Hush a Sick Transmission
05. Dime Fangs

Side B
06. Red Food Old Heat
07. Down Eisenhower Sun Up With Mule
08. To Hush a Sick Transmission [Unedit]
09. When the Snakehandler Slips

B: Ohhhhhh. Like, the new, first-time-ever-on-vinyl double LP expanded edition release of Califone’s Sometimes Good Weather Follows Bad People, which was composed of the band’s first two EPs plus a few new songs and originally released on CD by the Glitterhouse label in 2000, and that’s available on November 6 (pre-order now) in an expanded edition on double vinyl format replete with “deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket with all new artwork” (including the original album tracks and four previously unreleased outtakes from the final Red Red Meat recording sessions) thanks to the Jealous Butcher label???

A: Umm. Yes? Was that a question? I… I forgot what we were even talking about.

B: Yeah, no, you were talking about how the Califone double LP comes with a free digital download and how the first 300 pre-orders come on super-limited-edition translucent light blue vinyl.

A: I was? What the fuck is a califone?

Side A
01. On the Steeple With the Shakes (X-mas Tigers)
02. Silvermine Pictures
03. Pastry Sharp
04. To Hush a Sick Transmission
05. Dime Fangs

Side B
06. Red Food Old Heat
07. Down Eisenhower Sun Up With Mule
08. To Hush a Sick Transmission [Unedit]
09. When the Snakehandler Slips

Hey, this news is relevant to you if you own an Xbox 360 and download music on it: Next Friday, October 26, Microsoft will launch Xbox Music, which will replace the Zune Music service. You just got burned, Zune! According to The Hollywood Reporter, Xbox Music will run on PCs and the silly Microsoft Slate and Surface devices using Windows 8 and Windows RT. And I guess at some point after October 29, when Windows Phone 8 is released, Xbox Music will be on there, too.

The exciting part of this news is that the service includes three levels of service: free streaming access to music you’ve never heard of (like Duke Melon) and an Xbox Music Pass subscription for $9.99 a month or $99.99 annually, which removes ads and allows you to download MP3s. Oh, and the free streaming won’t be available on phones, but will be available with the Pass subscription. And finally, to compete with iTunes, Microsoft will be adding video content as well. Ha!

Again, this news is only relevant to you if you own an Xbox 360 and download music on it.

Against all odds, Grooveshark lives on to grab music from all over the internet to be played by whomever visits their site. Grooveshark doesn’t do much more than that, though, and with a landscape full of other music-providing options that also instinctively recommend new music to you, host various channels/stations for niche interests, and allow you to take the experience with you on the go through mobile apps (not to mention, doing all that while still playing by the labels’ rules), it’s not too surprising to learn that Grooveshark is about to try and reinvent itself.

Yes, the new Grooveshark does many of the things Spotify and Pandora have done from day one while still maintaining its sketchy source material of plundered music from the internet’s depths. The new version of the site allows you to browse genre stations, save playlists, makes recommendations based on your listening habits (provided you create a free profile), and an accompanying mobile site allows you to do all of this on your phone without the hassle of a mobile app (since Grooveshark is [and always will be] banned from both the iTunes and Play app stores).

So what’s actually new here? Well, MusicWeek reports that Grooveshark, in its usual flippant style, has partnered with Flattr to allow uses to “tip” artists they like. Who needs ASCAP when you’ve got a tip jar right there on the home page?! The new site also provides artists the opportunity to create official profiles that will allow them to manage their own content that they find on the site and interact directly with fans. Both of these new “features” are clearly attempts by Grooveshark to get artists on board with its model while keeping its back to the labels and their myriad complaints (and lawsuits) against the site.

It’s pretty laughable if Grooveshark thinks that this could replace any kind of real royalty scheme that should be in place to compensate artists for the work Grooveshark uses to pull in users (and sell advertising, it’s only revenue base). Add to it that there’s no explanation as to how payments made to Flattr are relayed back to the artists you’re listening to or how artist profiles will be verified and we’ve got a whole lot of uncertainty. And yet, the site continues on.

Saxophonist David S. Ware, a leading free jazz player during the last 20 years, died Thursday night. […]

Ware was 62. When he was 60, after nearly a decade of dialysis treatment, Ware underwent a kidney transplant. Ware’s Wikipedia entry states that the operation took place after a kidney was donated in response to an email message sent out to nearly 1,000 of his fans. Aum Fidelity recently sent out this update on Ware’s health, stating that he was”physically not doing well at all, though his spirit is in a very positive place.” The update solicited cards and emails of support from Ware’s fans to be shared with him.

Back in February, Hype Williams genius Dean Blunt released a mixtape called The Narcissist II, a sort of precursor to Dean Blunt and Inga Copelands’ Hyperdub LP Black Is Beautiful. The 30-minute downloadable mixtape sounded like a travelogue of all the states of late-night urban ennui, as narrated by a laudanum-addicted Barry White trapped in a Victrola. Plus, it had Inga, the other half of Hype Williams, providing soporific and seductive vocals on the title track. It was a mini-masterpiece, now lost to the magical tides of the internet.

But no longer! The good people over at Hippos in Tanks/World Music have decided to give this thing a proper coming-out party and send it off into the world in all its remixed and remastered glory come November 26. You can get this thing as a digital download or as a limited-edition vinyl dealie. And stay tuned, because word on the street is that The Narcissist III is in the works!